Douglas Corrigan

Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan (January 22, 1907–December 9, 1995) was an American aviator born in Galveston, Texas. In 1938 after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, he flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, even though he was supposed to be returning to Long Beach. He claimed that this was due to a navigational error caused by heavy cloud cover that obscured any landmarks and low-light conditions that caused him to misread his compass. Corrigan, however, was a skilled aircraft mechanic (he was one of the builders of Charles Lindbergh's The Spirit of St. Louis) and he had made several modifications to his own plane rendering it suitable for transatlantic flight. Between 1935 and 1937 he applied several times for permission to make a nonstop flight from New York to Ireland, and it is likely that his "navigational error" was a protest against government "red tape"; however, he never publicly acknowledged having flown to Ireland intentionally.

Later life

Corrigan wrote his autobiography within months of his flight and helped RKO Studios produce The Flying Irishman, a movie about his life, in 1939. Corrigan returned to a simple life in California with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children. He retired from aviation in 1950, bought an 18-acre orange grove in Santa Ana, California, and lived there until his death on December 9 1995. He knew nothing about orange ranching, and claimed to have learnt the business by copying his neighbors. In 1969 he sold most of his grove, keeping the green ranch-style house. One of the streets in the 93-house development on his grove is named for him.{{Inote|Marsh|Marsh}} He became reclusive after his son died in a private plane crash in the 1970s, but he joined the celebrations of the golden anniversary in 1988. He allowed enthusiasts to retrieve his famous Robin from his garage for reassembly and the engine was run successfully.{{Inote|Fyn|Fyn}}

Related Topics:
RKO Studios - The Flying Irishman - 1950 - Santa Ana, California - December 9

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